Thursday, March 8, 2012

Ten Reasons Not to Homeschool

Why send your kids to public schools rather than homeschool. Here are ten good reasons:

10. Skill development: Government schools do a great job of teaching children to sit down and shut up while the teacher engages in crowd control and mindless administrative duties. The ability to put one's mind on hold, sit there and do nothing is a skill that will be in high demand in the competitive marketplace of the future.

9. Lack of ability: I couldn't teach my own child - I don't know how. After all, anything meaningful in life can only be taught by those properly trained and certified to do so.

8. Financial aspects: We can't financially afford to homeschool. Without the school based health clinics, how could we afford to keep our children supplied with condoms and birth control.

7. Goals 2000: I want my children to learn all the correct stuff. Given how fast history changes, I want to be sure they are up on the most recent version.

6. Scheduling benefits: Staying on the same schedule as everybody else has its benefits. That way, when we go to Orlando, we can make sure that we spend our time waiting in lines rather than wasting it on all those rides and attractions.

5. Close friendships: I like the fact that my children are spending so much of their time with people not in their family. I would much rather my children's closest friendships be outside the family rather than within.

4. Separation of church and state: As long as we keep church and state separate, then the more time I can keep my kids under the control of the state, the less time they can possible be under the harmful influence of the church.

3. Socialization: What possible better way could there be to give your children the social skills they will need as adults than to stick them with children their own age all day. Besides, the best influence on your child is the one randomly assigned to the seat behind him or her in home room.

2. Class size: Learning can't occur in groups of less than twenty students. There is nothing quite like being lock-stepped through material with thirty other students to really develop within a person that true love for learning.

1. Class pace: I want my child to know how to learn at the proper pace. If a child can't keep up with the class, then it serves that child right to be left behind in the dust. If the child is learning too fast, then he or she needs to learn to slow down. And besides, what gives any child the right to assume that he or she can learn things he or she wants to learn rather than what the Federal Government decides should be taught for any given grade level. Anything learned at the wrong time might just as well be left unlearned.

MY COMMENT:The last reason is my favorite. My husband's daughter, when she was in Jr. High School told him that she could not learn a certain subject because her teachers told her she would learn it later. Another time when he tried to teach her a different way of doing an algebra problem, she started to cry and told him that she had to do it the way the teacher taught her or she would get it wrong. When he said that the way he did it wasn't wrong and she would come up with the same answer, she looked at him and told him she could not do it his way because it was the wrong way and refused to listen. In her refusal, she basically told him he didn't know anything and her teachers knew everything. Sadly, his daughter continued her quest and family relationships were broken.

In that moment I KNEW I could never send my children to the government schools where educators brainwash children into thinking they are the only ones who are qualified to teach and they are the only ones who know the right way and the right time to teach it.

Our decision was confirmed when my oldest son, at the age of 18 months, learned every letter of the alphabet by name, and when we would go into a store, while walking down the aisles, he'd tell me the letters on boxes, on signs, etc. Those who saw and heard him were astounded when I told them his age.

By the age of 2, he could name every part of a violin down to the perferling (my only regret is that we never taught him how to spell perferling!). He learned his powers of 2 before the age of 5 and could name every note we played on the piano by the age of 3 or 4, reinforcing the idea that you can teach your children perfect pitch.

Can you imagine if he had gone to the government schools after that? He would have been whooped into shape in no time at all, being told to slow down. They likely would have scolded him because he did not rote learn his addition and subtraction facts before he learned how to multiply. Today, my son, at the age of 15, continues in his quest to learn whatever he can, and has a deep love for learning. Thank the Lord for the privilege we have to homeschool in our country!

That is just one more wonderful thing about homeschooling -- children have freedom to pursue their goals in their time, not some artificial time that others put on them! Thanks Dru for inspiring me to follow in your steps!

This sounds just like my story. When I was about 4, my mom taught me how to do basic reading. When I went to kindergarden in a public school, somewhere in the middle of the year, I was reading a book and the teacher asked me to put it away. I asked if I could please finish reading the page and she said no. When I got picked up by my mom, I was teary eyed and she asked the teacher why. The teacher said I was in kindergarden, I wasn't supposed to be able to read yet! Basically, I was not allowed to read because I wasn't at "reading age" yet. So that was when my mom took me out and started homeschooling me.

This is Me

I am a follower of Christ. I was a SAHM for 20 years to my two sons, homeschooling both of them through high school. I love my husband who loves me unconditionally and is the nicest person you'll ever meet. My oldest son is 20 and a student in college. My youngest son is 18 and is still figuring out what he wants to do. Living a life of faith is my only goal.